The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, is all over the news, but what you may not have heard is that the response to it has serious legislative ramifications. Your elected officials are now making important decisions about how to deal with COVID-19. We need to make sure they’re keeping in mind our best interests, not the interests of health insurance corporations or their donors. They need to know you’re watching them.
First, your MoC’s are working on emergency federal funding to deal with the outbreak. On the one hand, this is an opportunity to allocate supplementary funding to CDC and other government agencies gutted by Trump. On the other hand, it’s also an opportunity to sneak dangerous poison pill riders into this must-pass legislation.
Call all of your MoC’s and tell them to pass funds for the NIH and CDC for coronavirus response, to make sure any treatments are affordable and accessible for everyone, and to refuse to allow any unrelated riders to be added to the legislation.
Second, you might have heard that testing for COVID-19, quarantine, and treatment could cost patients thousands of dollars. This is unacceptable—it will worsen the outbreak as people avoid going to the doctor for fear of unaffordable bills. The Governor of New York has said he will force insurance companies in that state to fully cover COVID-19 costs, and our governor should do the same.
Call Governor Newsom and ask him to force insurance companies to cover in full the costs of coronavirus testing and treatment.
Please make these calls as soon as possible. It will make a real difference to whether the federal and state responses to COVID-19 actually help regular people. Don’t let a crisis be turned into an opportunity to seize money and power. (And also, wash your hands.)
Reproductive Rights: Join us in watching a Massive Case in the Supreme Court
One of our own members will be in the Supreme Court’s courtroom for oral arguments tomorrow in June Medical Services v. Russo. If the court upholds this ruling, it will do more than just decimate abortion access in Louisiana. By overturning a decision made in an identical case in 2016, this would destroy the idea that courts must observe precedent and allow any law to be changed when the composition of the court does.
This case has ramifications for the entire rule of law, so we can’t ignore it!
Please use this updated toolkit to flood social media tomorrow. Watch the oral arguments on the livestream here. Tell your friends!
It’s time to elect a new Steering Committee
The ISF Steering Committee (SC) is the elected body of up to 10 members that coordinates ISF operations, programs, and endeavors. Every six months the SC is elected by the ISF membership through online voting. If you are currently active with ISF and are signed up to use our Slack messaging service, please consider volunteering to serve on the SC—we need you.
Nominate yourself for SC election by using the Google form here.
As an SC member you'll help guide our strategic direction and program development and provide oversight and administration for ISF. The SC meets twice a month (remote participation is possible, but face-to-face participation is desirable), conducts business between meetings via Slack and (occasionally) email or phone. For a summary of SC duties, responsibilities, and election procedures (as specified in the ISF charter) see our document here.
Nominations close at the end of Sunday, March 15. Election voting starts Wednesday, March 18, and ends Wednesday, April 8. The new SC will take office on April 9.
Gear up for November 2020
Super Tuesday is over—thanks for voting! Now it’s time to work for a massive blue wave in 2020. We’re already reaching out to voters with texting and postcard writing.
Start IndivisiTexting with Payback Project! Why are we texting in March when the election is in November? It’s all part of our strategy to find and engage potential voters and ultimately get them to the polls. Find out more in our blog post on how IndivisiTexting works. You can sign up online for a text-banking training session—or you can come to an Indivisible SF meeting and get hands-on training from one of our members, who helped build the texting program.
Please donate to our postcard writing efforts—we are spending that money only on paper, postage, and envelopes!
Learn about Media Literacy—it looks like we’re in for a contentious primary season and more emergencies and outrages coming from the White House. We’ve got pointers for you on how to stay grounded and focused amid the chaos of 24-hour networks and social media.
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Next Indivisible SF General Meeting: Sunday, Mar 15, 1pm–3pm at the Women’s Building. This event is for both first-timers and regular attendees. RSVP on Eventbrite.
Sunday, Mar 15, 4pm–6pm: Pints & Postcards at Standard Deviant! After our general meeting, we’ll write letters to voters in swing states to help them register to vote in key elections. RSVP on Eventbrite.
Saturday, Mar 7, 1–5pm: DemAction SF Phone Bank in the Mission at Exygy. Join us for the effort to keep our nearby swing districts, CA-10 and CA-21, blue. RSVP here.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
If you'd like to support our all-volunteer team:
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Download from the Android or iOS app store
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Open the app and tap 'create new account' to sign up
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Join the Indivisible SF team using the invite code 101-202-303
- Cheer someone on and/or take an action
Photo Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-washing-his-hand-545014/
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